Mandalinn - hope your day was wonderful - enjoy the honeymoon!

We had our Pre-cana class today - for those who aren't catholic, this is a requirement of getting married in the church. The requirement is different in different parishes and with differen priests - ours was an 8-hour course about marriage. DF actually enjoyed the class, and told me after he was glad we'd gone. He'd initially agreed to go under much protest. Anyway, the older couple who taught the class read a great blessing at the beginning of the course, and I wanted to share it with you all - I think we may use it in our ceremony.
Cindy

BLESSING FOR A MARRIAGE
~ James Dillet Freeman ~

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.

If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

Cindy- I really like that poem a lot. I am going to share it with the fiance.

Kathie- Hello and welcome! I hope that you find all the support you need. Try to take it easy on yourself, though. No matter what, you will look gorgeous on your wedding day, marrying the man of your dreams!

Clareh- How did the florist go? I am considering ordering flowers bulk online, then hand-tying bouquets. Haven't made up my mind, since that is a lot of work.

Lafayette- I haven't heard of Bride and Bloom. I really enjoy Martha Stewart Weddings.

Mandalinn- I thought of you yesterday. I imagine it will be a while until you read this, but hope you are enjoying yourself.


As for me, Micah officially proposed Tuesday night! haha... everyone was happy, but we heard a lot of "about times." I have pictures of my ring, but it will still be a few weeks before I get the real one. I am so happy, and I really wish we could be out looking and booking a place, but I HAVE to finish this semester of school. So, instead of fun wedding stuff, I am writing a 6-page paper on image denoising and writing a presentation.

P.S. On the diet front, I need to start eating well again, rather than stress eating all the time. Sigh...

Hello all,

Christine – Congrats on the “official” proposal!

Well, not too much happening on the wedding front. We have an appointment to look at our top contender for a receptions spot next weekend. There will be a reception going on there so we can check things out while they're begin set up, so that should be a good reference point.

Spent a lot of time looking at open houses yesterday. DF and I are looking into the possibility of buying a home, the research is a lot of leg work. In fact, I'm pretty exhausted today.

Amanda--can't wait to hear stories and see pictures of the big day and honeymoon!!

Shananigans--Jeff and I are doing home reserch, too. We rent right now, but we really want to own a place. We don't want a condo that is basically the same as our apartment (in a high rise) because it doesn't feel very "homey" to us, so we're hoping to be able to afford a townhouse or even a small single family home, but things are SO expensive here! I've been doing research on possibl mortgage loan options and acceptable neighborhoods, and we're not even moving till the fall (our lease runs out October 31, so we want to close on a home by the end of September so we can take our time gradually moving/cleaning/fixing things in October).

Our wedding plans are actually on hold until after we move--no need to stress myself out with both at the same time

Jill,
DH and I are also looking at homes. We've seen most of the new developments in our area and all of them are trying to be huge and "luxury" townhomes. All we want is a simple townhome with a small yard. Out of all the townhomes we've seen, only 2 had any type of yard. All others had tiny balconies. We actually picked a general location where there are some townhomes built in the 70s and 80s. There is a dog park, which will be great because we want a dog and it is in a really good location. Only problem is we will be paying for the location We are also looking at buying at the end of the year or early next year. The plan is either in June or July to make contact with a realtor and then go on from there.

The possibility of owning property is one of the many reason we decided to relocate back to Madison. DF’s best friend from high school got married and bought a house in Silver Spring, MD last summer, they paid over $300,000 for a 750 sq ft townhouse! We looked at a few properties back when we were living in LA just for fun, and oh my goodness, what 4 mil can buy you! It’s fun to dream, but comparing the two markets it’s unbelievable how much more reasonable housing costs are here.

We saw a townhouse yesterday that we’re quite interested in, but for now the lady is remaining pretty firm about her asking price, which is just a bit too much of a stretch for us. DF did some research and found a comparable condo in the neighborhood with another bedroom (a 3 br vs 2) listed at the same price, and another 2 br listed for less. We're going to check those out as well. So hopefully she comes to her senses and will consider an offer in the price range we’d be more likely to put a bid in for. We’ll see, just the thought of being a homeowner is very exciting.

Wow that is crazy. I had to look up where Forestville is at. That is on the other side of 495. I actually live and work off of 270 and we are lucky in that both of us work near eachother and can buy a home within a few miles of work.

Shan, prices have actually dropped a bit here. I think it'd be a bit cheaper if we actually did live in Silver Spring but it would also mean dealing with hellish traffic. I think we actually found a the one tiny spot in the DC metro area that doesn't seem as crazy, crowded and trafficky but we are also at the outer fringe of it.

Christine- The Bride and Bloom is new. I think the issue currently on newstands is only the second issue. Their website is the same as the name. I found it at Target. BTW Best wishes!!!

Good luck to everyone with their house hunting! I'm sure your agents have already advised you but, just in case, it's worth your while to research the length of time a property has been on the market. As a general rule, the longer the sellers have had to pay the mortgage, the more eager they are to sell versus make another month's payment. (I'm guessing) I'm older so most of my friends are combining households and trying to sell a home. Many started out looking to land a huge profit and would now be thrilled with any offer, especially for the few who have been trying to sell for 8-10 months.

Back to weddings I work for a nonprofit so I called on a few "non-traditional" vendors for our catering, invitations and photography. I could not be more pleased with the results! We're getting custom-designed invitations for almost the same price as the discount catalogs from a professional graphic designer who typically does advertising, great "event" photography and linens/settings/glassware/appetizers/salads/filet mignon/service with a full open bar for about $63/person, gratuity included, from a caterer that usually does events for the opera, symphony and other performing arts groups. They actually knocked down the price because- and I quote- "We don't have to make dessert." Wha?!? They have no problem serving and boxing cake, either.

Anyone want to get married in Milwaukee?

Lafayette- I feel SO silly. I went to my stack of wedding magazines (yikes... I have a really compulsive personality) and saw I had a Bride and Bloom in there. I wholeheartedly agree, they have so many pretty arrangements in there. I am really trying to do a low-budget wedding, but I may have to incorporate some of those ideas. Take care.

Lafayette,

I enjoy looking at the pictures of real estate in my area. A lot of the picture have leaves on the ground (indication of the October/November time frame) or snow (which could've been a couple times in the past few months but not recent). So houses are definitely sitting.

DH and I are actually pushing off our home buying plans for a couple months longer. Last year, we had a short local honeymoon and we decided that on our first anniversary, we'd take a longer/international trip. Well, we just purchased a vacation package to Antartica for December. So we'll be looking to buy in January or so

Hi everyone,

Christine- congratulations on making it official!! I was thinking of doing some of the flowers myself, but I've got some good discounts (and we're not having complicated arrangements at the venue) so I'm going to concentrate on kicking back and enjoying myself for the day. I'm actually going to see the florist tomorrow now, and booked my weddig cake today (chocolate, covered in chocolate curls) which we're cutting before the meal and having as a dessert with a Baileys sauce.

I hear you all on the house prices. Our 2 bed semi (I don't know what square footage it would be, but it's small) in the middle of a town (no land etc) comes in at $400,000 using the currency converter. Unfortunately we don't own it but will be getting back on the property ladder next year, which is going to hurt!


Lafayette- I've done exactly the same as you- we're having the wedding in a private club, which has never done this before (but is very happy to take our money!) and using small local suppliers, who will discuss different ways of doing things so that we get the effect we want and they get to keep their profit margins
I haven't managed to lose any weight either except my Easter weight. I have my last dress tryon before she orders my size on Saturday and really wanted to be down to 159 but am stuck at 161. I think it's a mental thing as it will be another decade of pounds closer to my goal. Willpower push I think.

Good luck with all of your planning!

haha, I have actually seen a home that has the date of their open house in the description, and it is from LAST JUNE As I've been looking at homes nearly every day online, I've watched one particular property actually fall from $299,900 to a current price of $249,000 in just a matter of a few months, and it's STILL not sold (which leads me to believe there's something wrong with it, but still)!

I am glad that the market has changed to become a buyers' market, but our mortgage (plus taxes and insurance--full PITI) is still going to be nearly double what we currently pay in rent

As for wedding-related news in my life, we're still trying to figure out if we even want to bother with a big thing or just get hitched and have a family dinner at a restaurant. I guess part of it will depend on how much $$ my parents are willing to help us with, which will depend on when they move and what new jobs they get when they move. They have put an offer in on a house in Va Beach, but their offer is contingent on them selling their house in CT, which hasn't had any offers yet (but has only been on the market for 3 weeks so far)--yes, my parents, my sister and her family, and Jeff and I are ALL moving by the end of this year .

Jill- a price drop that small probably doesn't signal a problem. Even if it does, they would be required by law to disclose it if you ask. I looked at a place that had come down $120k in price ($100k lower than the city tax assessment) and it was just genuinely overvalued. Hang in there!

I started by wedding weight loss a week and a half ago and have lost 6 pounds. I refuse to try on dresses until I weigh less than 140 in shoes. I have never had this much weight to lose so I was astounded when I had lost 5 pounds in the first week but I'm still not back down to my previous highest weight. Last time, I had about 15-20 pounds to lose and was deeply motivated by a college reunion and a friend's wedding- I expected to see a particulary heinous ex at both events and was thrilled when I lost the weight and didn't have to deal with him.

Clareh, good or bad, this last stretch before the big day will probably push you toward your goal! Take care of yourself and it will happen!

Good luck everyone!

We have a reception site picked out! Now that we have the ceremony and reception sites taken care of I feel like we can relax for a bit, everything else will fall together. We already have a florist and photographer we think we’ll likely work with, the reception site does all the catering, next on the agenda will be the dress I suppose.

This is where we’re having the reception: http://www.mononaterrace.com/index.html
At first I wasn’t too crazy about the terrace because I thought we’d have to use the ballroom, and I thought it was kind of silly to be at a lakeside facility and not be able to see the lake. Turns out our party is small enough to use the community terrace, which is basically a long room with one wall being glass overlooking the water. Very nice! If anyone is interested you can get a 3D “tour” of the space in flash or quicktime via this link http://www.mononaterrace.com/convention/vr.html just scroll down to “community terrace”. And the catering menu looks has some good looking vegetarian options.

Also, we are moving ahead with the house buying! Very exciting, we’ll be closing June 8.